The Last
by Returned
Summary: Even time couldn't keep them apart. TentenxNeji


The Last

**Chapter One: His Return**

* * *

The brunette weapons handler was crouched with her arms on her knees to keep herself upright while she breathed heavily. Warm sweat dripped down her forehead and drenched the small of her back.

While catching her breath, she glanced contently at the numerous scattered steel projectiles around her, then at the setting sun in the distance.

"I guess that's enough training for today…" Tenten muttered to herself with a satisfactory grin on her face and decided to retreat home after first collecting her precious weapons.

* * *

Finally arriving home, she deactivated the deadly traps surrounding her entire apartment that was meant to ward off unwelcome intruders (or Gai and Lee) and hurried through the room. She made sure to close the door behind her as she continued to the bedroom, not bothering to turn on any of the lights as she did so.

She released a sigh of relief as she untied her forehead protector and placed it on the table, proceeding to unbutton her unclean top as well as slink out of her black training pants. She also released her traditional buns from the restricting hair ties, allowing her wavy brown hair to cascade down her back.

Now fully nude, the weapons mistress hurriedly headed to the bathroom to take a comforting shower after her hard-working, extensive training.

She allowed the warm water to comfortingly rupture against her soft skin and wash away the grime and dirt on her body. The pretty brunette grinned widely, relishing under the soothing hotness as she cleansed her entire body with soap.

Her moment of relaxation was suddenly interrupted with the slight sound of a bell in the distance.

"Someone's breaking into my house…" The weapons mistress spoke quietly to herself. Sternly turning off the shower, she stepped out of the bath and quickly wrapped a thin blue towel around her lean body.

Ready to open the bathroom door and venture outside for her perpetrator, she stepped closer to the door until she felt an evident presence on the other side of the door and halted herself.

She cautiously peered down to the crack under the door and saw the light shadow of two feet, verifying her assumptions.

Quickly acknowledging the fact that her door was unlocked and that she had no weapons on her, the analytical kunoichi decided to make the first move.

She dashed towards the door, violently flinging the door open as she did so. The intruder swiftly dodged being slammed in the face with the door by instinctively jumping back. Once the stranger's feet landed on the wooden floor, he realized carelessly jumping back was a mistake. He felt a slightly damp towel being tightly wrung around his neck as a light body had flung itself onto his back, pushing him to the ground.

"Who are you?!"

Tenten hissed at him, showing no mercy for the imposter.

"Tenten." The body underneath her own mumbled tiredly from under her firm grip, not making any endeavor to escape. Her mouth gaped at the familiarity of the person's voice as the figure beneath her suddenly disappeared into a puff of smoke and was replaced with a wooden log.

"I see you've added bells to your security system." A voice that had come from behind her was chuckling warmly.

"Neji…?" She gasped sharply; she hadn't seen her beloved teammate ever since he was dispatched on a clan mission three years ago.

She hurried to her feet and rushed to the side of the room to turn the lights on.

Indeed it was her childhood teammate standing before her, his familiar thin black hair tied in a knot at the ends as he wore a khaki jacket over a short black shirt along with black pants. Muscles replaced his prior lean body and his stature had significantly grown as well.

"Neji..." She breathlessly repeated and held her breath in disbelief at the man standing before her; she hadn't seen her beloved teammate in three years and here he was, standing before her. She mustered up her stability and spoke, struggling to hide the shakiness in her voice.

"When did you get back?"

Instead of answering her question, he turned his back to her and closed his eyes.

He spoke in a low tone while crossing his masculine arms. "I'll answer you when you put some clothes on."

The previously shaken kunoichi was now mortified as she first bent down to grab the towel that she had earlier used to choke him and messily wrapped it around her body.

She scrounged for her clothes, throwing on a black shirt and a pair of blue shorts. Finally dressed, Tenten glanced over at the gentlemen who had his posture to the wall and his eyes shut tightly.

"I'm sorry, Neji." She apologized quietly, still having a light blush on her cheeks. Recognizing that she was finished getting dressed, he turned towards her and attentively stared at her with his bloodline eyes.

"Tenten," he spoke assertively, "Be more careful next time in case it wasn't me. You can't show your body to anyone else."

Though she didn't fully comprehend what he meant by that, she half-heartedly nodded at his advice to be more wary.

"When did you get back?" She anxiously repeated her question more calmly while adding another in good manner. "How did the mission go?"

"I got back this morning. I just came from Tsunade-sama's office to give her the information." He seated himself on her bed and motioned her to come over. "The mission was a success. Nobody will attempt to steal the Hyuuga bloodline anymore."

He grinned smugly while stating his last bit as Tenten walked over to her bed, ready to position herself down next to him when he swiftly wrapped his left arm around her thin waist and easily pulled her onto his lap.

"Well, that's good." The startled girl spoke with a reddening blush on her face as she locked eyes with the intense gaze of her childhood friend.

Three years ago these kinds of actions were common between them, just never in public. Behind closed doors they would hold hands, kiss each other on the cheek and forehead, and occasionally sleep together in the same bedding. It was never more intimate than that, they were only 16 at the time and nobody (not even their dense teammates) suspected a thing.

However when Neji left for the mission, it broke her heart; he didn't even inform her of it or bid her farewell. One day he was embracing her tightly as she excitedly told him of her ambitions and he listened attentively to her, gazing down at her gingerly while stroking her wavy brown locks. Suddenly, he was gone. She cried alone in her room for eight months before accepting the fact that he was gone and she decided to finally move on.

Reminiscing on these details abruptly changed her thoughts; her surprised sentiment mixed with happiness turned to resent from being cruelly abandoned.

"Tenten…" He gingerly fingered her cheek with his hand and leaned his face closer to hers, aiming for the parted lips on her contemplating expression.

Noticing his intent, she promptly stood up from his lap, dodging his lips in the process as he halted immediately from her movement. A hurt expression was evident on his usual stoic appearance.

"It's been _three years_. You didn't even say good-bye." The enunciated words carried more resent in her voice than she intended it to; she eyed the man down with a saddened expression on her face.

Somewhat stunned by her actions that he knew that in the back of his mind was evident, his mouth had gaped open as he took in the bitterness of her unwelcoming vibe.

"Tenten, I-"

"I think you should go." She spoke in a firm tone, leaving no room for resistance as she turned her attention to the floor rather than to him.

Hesitant to move at first, he dejectedly sighed and finally rose from her bed, lightly stepping towards the door.

Before leaving he paused as he turned the knob, remembering what he was instructed to inform her.

"Tsunade-sama said to arrive at her office tomorrow at noon. She has a mission for us."

"Alright. Thank you for telling me." She spoke politely, being careful to not show any emotion consideration in her voice.

However, the Hyuuga prodigy knew his brown-eyed kunoichi better than anybody else and understood her wavering feelings right now.

Wordlessly he left her house, carefully securing every lock and activating every trap in the rooms as he departed to ensure her safety.

Making sure that she could no longer sense his chakra in the proximity, Tenten finally flung her own body onto the comforting bed. She brought her hands up to cover her teary eyes as she allowed the shameful drops of water to trail down her rosy cheeks.

"Neji… How can he leave without a word for three years and act like everything is still the same? Things have changed…"

She took a moment to wipe off her tears as she comforted her own self, remembering just how much she had gone through in the past three years.

"_I've _changed."

* * *

The two had arrived punctually at the Hokage's office and were standing diligently in front of her. Neither of them had said a word to each nor glanced at one another since their appearance.

Tsunade-sama surveyed the two of them as she glanced at them from one to the other; she maintained her attention on Neji for a moment.

"Glad to have you back, Neji." He nodded and politely expressed his thanks. She then raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure you want to take on this mission right after your return? I can assign someone else-"

"No." He interrupted quickly and retorted with a harsh tone. He hadn't seen his beloved in three years; there was no way he was going to pass up this opportunity to spend time with her.

Tenten glanced over at her out-of-character teammate with a stunned expression. Tsunade-sama followed suit with a surprised look on her face rather than anger since Neji was always known to be composed and respectful his entire life.

Immediately realizing his rudeness, he calmly added, "Thank you for your concern Hokage-sama, but I assure you that I am fine. Please continue on."

The hokage eyed him momentarily before agreeing to his proposition as she proceeded to explain to them of their mission details. Tsunade-sama laid out some papers as well as a mug shot photo of a dark-haired man with emerald eyes.

Tenten sharply held her breath when she trailed Tsunade-sama's finger to the photograph.

"This man is a rogue ninja from Konoha; his name is Takuto Hashima. He was formerly one of our best ANBU ninja but has severed ties with us, choosing a life of committing criminal acts now."

Tsunade-sama stopped for a moment to look up from her file work; her attention was now on the two ninjas standing before her, particularly to the brunette kunoichi whose heart was currently beating rapidly.

"This is a B-Rank mission; your task is to capture him and bring him back to our village to see if we could talk some sense into him. However if he proves to be uncooperative, you're instructed to eliminate him."

"_Eliminate_ him?!" Without even realizing it, Tenten was tightly clutching her chest with her right hand as she took a step forward.

Neji stared at his kunoichi's emotionally packed motions with his mouth gaped as he soundlessly mouthed her name in a slow and inquiring manner. "…Tenten…?"

The usually brash Hokage looked at Tenten gently as she spoke carefully.

"Tenten, I understand this must be difficult for you… but you know him better than anybody else. _You'd_ be the one he'd be most willing to listen to. _That's why_ I assigned you on this mission."

The brunette took steady breaths to regain her composure as she calmly responded to her Hokage's considerate words with a confident tone.

"I understand, I'll bring him back to this village."

Tsunade-sama grinned at the reliable woman in front of her as she then reverted to shifting her attention equally from the both of them.

"We've received information that he was last seen in the Sugi Village." She tossed a scroll to Neji's reach as he caught it effortlessly. "That scroll contains all the information you'll need for this mission. I'm counting on you two."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." The two spoke simultaneously before departing.

* * *

Once they took one step out of the building, the outwardly collected prodigy spoke to her for first time today and immediately questioned her.

"Who is he?"

Though she knew the true intent from his seemingly harmless question (Hyuuga translation: "What the hell does he have to do with you?"), she really preferred not talking about it.

Plus, she was still holding a grudge against him for deserting her. However she didn't want to outcast him nor direct her frustrations towards him; she wanted to just let it go and move on with their lives. She planned to be civil with him and nothing more than that.

She attempted to sidetrack it by stating the obvious.

"Well Tsunade-sama did just say he was an ANBU ninja who recently turned into a missing-nin. He must be a formidable ninja."

She mentally prayed that he would be sympathetic and let it go just like he did last night.

He didn't let it go.

"That's not what I meant." A hint of anxiousness was heard from his voice.

"Well what did you mean?"

She repeated the phrase "_Please let it go, please let it go, please let it go" _in her head while she began walking towards Sugi Village as the agitated Hyuuga stepped along with her.

"Tenten," he addressed her firmly as they continued walking through the village, shortly arriving at the forest. "You know what I meant."

The kunoichi sighed, defeated; she knew he wasn't going to let it go and that it was completely futile to believe he would this time.

Tenten fluently leaped onto the highest tree branch, signaling him to follow along and he did so. Her eyes were fixated on the region ahead of her as his attention was completely fixated on her, picking up and analyzing every expression and motion she made.

Before heading to the Sugi Village by hurdling through the trees, she reluctantly answered his question.

"He was my… koibito."

* * *

**For those of you who don't know, "koibito" means lover in Japanese. Obviously, you understand Neji's imminent discomfort with that. **

**I really think this storyline will be a killer and I hope it will be my best work yet. Please review my stories to reassure me that my story isn't complete waste and to convince me to continue the story! **

**Thank you for reading this chapter :)**


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